How did we end up beside a longkang, one fine Saturday night, relatively well dressed, and chomping on sloppy burgers?
Answer #1:
A business card.
Who in their right mind puts a picture of a delicious burger on their namecard without being answerable to repercussions? (In this case, being obliged to accompany some newbies on the search for the Holy Grail.)
Answer #2:
An awards ceremony.
How can I not be influenced at a dinner organised by one of my favourite food sites culminating with the announcement of the top makan places (mostly street food/kopitiam style food) in the Klang Valley? Check out the winners (lifted from the FriedChillies website…thanks, Adly!):
For Best Roti Canai :Raju Restaurant
No. 27, Jalan Cantik, Petaling Jaya
N 03.10159 E101.65385
For Best Assam Laksa : O & S Laksa
39, Jalan 20/14, Paramount Gardens Petaling Jaya
N 3.10783 E101.62499
For Best Banana Leaf Rice : Kanna Curry House
No. 29 Jalan 17/45, Petaling Jaya
N 3.11974 E101.62978
For Best Chicken Rice :Hainanese Chicken Rice
73, Jln. SS22/23, Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya
N 3.12595 E101.61618
For Best Crabs : Fatty Crab
No 2, Jln SS 24/13 , Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya
N 3.11482 E101.61254
For Best Char Koay Teow : Aunty Gemok
Restoran Jamal Mohamed No. 24, Jalan SS5A/9 Petaling Jaya
N 3.09526 E101.60546
For Best Satay : Satay Samuri Taman Melawati
Jalan Melati Utama 4, Melati Utama, Setapak
N 3.13505 E101.62370
For Best Nasi Lemak : Village Park
5, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya
N 3.13774 E101.62318
For Best Street Burger : Burger OM
In Front of 7-11, Off Lorong Kolam Air Lama, Ampang
N 3.16063 E101.78560
For Best Kopitiam : Yut Kee Coffeeshop
35, Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur
N 3.15705 E101.70001
Those numbers at the bottom are not phone numbers ar. (Note: I’m still trying to figure out my GPS unit which didn’t come with instructions arrrghhhh.)
So there we were, enjoying our dinner at Pannaz Restaurant (Damansara Perdana), which was a pretty nice dinner too (the lamb that everyone else ordered was juicy and tender and served with a wedge of lemon and a mint salad) when the videos came on, and I was confronted face to face with a picture of a hugeass, SLOPPY burger that made me yearn for one in my hand (even though I was pretty satisfied with the meal at Pannaz (a robust mushroom soup, a grilled red snapper and a dessert combo consisting of a bread and butter stack (as opposed to a pudding), a chocolate cake and ice cream).
Thankfully, FriedChillies came with their resident Burger Dude aka Creative Director aka My HSS who, upon hearing of our proposed Burger Crawl, didn’t need much persuasion in leading the expedition.
And that’s how we ended up at midnight, at a longkang in front of a 7-11 in a location at co-ordinates N 3.16063 E101.78560 in Ampang. Presenting, the winner for the Best Street Burger, Burger OM:
Timing is crucial. Coordination is crucial. The egg is broken onto the pan, and within seconds, a slice of cheese is added, the burger patty is thrown in and the entire bundle is wrapped up. Shredded cabbage, lots of mayonnaise and chilli sauce form a bed on which the patty rests, and voila, a sloppy all-Malaysian burger is created. Origination of meat – unknown, but I’m willing to overlook that. So what makes this burger special? The secret lies in the egg, the yolk still a little runny which adds to the overall slush that oozes out of the burger. Oh, we suspect there’s ganja too.
In conclusion (coz I’ve been going off-topic quite a bit today):
1. Congratulations to FriedChillies for a successful AFA 2009. They’ve done a great job in promoting Malaysian food, and their enthusiasm in making Malaysian food recognisable worldwide is just so infectious. I want to jump up and say hallelujah, come on over and try our street food. And now, you have a list to depend on, so book that plane ticket and visit Malaysia!
2. Burger OM is deserving of its win. Checked, and authenticated.
3. Why is there always a burger stall in front of a 7-11? Or why is there always a 7-11 behind a burger stall?
4. Why does my GPS unit not listen to my instructions? Should I give it a few smacks?
5. Hello, NomadGourmand and Chefspiration whom I met for the first time at the Awards. Hello, Adly, Honey and Riz from FriedChillies whom I was meeting again after some months of absence. Hello, Nic, Ciki, Boo_licious, Splashie Boy and Kenny Mah whom I see more often than I see my husband.
6. Hello, Bald Eagle. I MISS YOU. I know you’re reading this across the miles.
hehe..nice meetin u too! so sad i missed the OM!
a case of the sloppier, the better?
stil rmbr Bangsar Babe also exclaimed this burger as almost … orgasmic.
ok … without any faulty nor working GPS at hand, i’ll crawl my way over someday. look for the 7-11 better eh?
Now you got me craving for OM! I usually get 2 burgers for myself. It’s THAT good!!
by looking at the deco, i tot this is Neroteca… :p
NOW you’re talkin’ my language, LL!
As you know, I’m generally pretty cynical about high-end yuppie/foodie fare, but street food? Now THAT is my thang, and ESPECIALLY Malaysian street food. This post is particularly well timed from my POV, since we’re planning another trip to Malaysia this year. I’ll be printing off the winner list and doing my best to pick ’em off one by one. Can’t wait.
As I think I have expressed to you, Malaysia is the best value food destination I have experienced (and I’ve travelled much of the world). Where else do you find 3 wonderful cuisines side by side, each of them incredibly varied, locally evolved as well as traditionally based, and done – generally – so bloody well so bloody consistently? Oh mama, can’t wait…
I’ll give the burgers a big miss, though! Too much great stuff to sample, too little time…
Cheers!
Ommmmm….. I hear a burger calling out my name. Can give the address in Engrish and not GPS speak ah?
Oh, btw, Satay Haji Samuri is in Taman Melati, not Melawati
oops! I see the addy now for the Om burger stall. Must have been blinded when I meditated on the burger.
What a great event! Malaysia is really promoting the food. Okiedokie, gonna jot down all this list to make sure that if I visit Malaysia, I already know what kind of places for food hunting 🙂
ahah sloppy burger..
i remember a roti john around the area too..DAMN SLOPPY but damn good too!
Damn that burger sure looks good! Must bring brother in law there, his car got GPS thingamajig 😉 Hahahah!
It was great to finally meet you! Oh gosh I should have joined you guys for that burger…it looks absolutely positevly sinful…must…have…burger…NOW!!!!
BARGER, i want a burger and i want it NOWWWWWWWWWW!
Except for Yut Kee and Park Village… the rest I have never been to… YET! Speaking of Yut Kee, I have not even got to try the Roasted Pork that you mentioned previously… sigh!!!
hello luscious lemongrass.. too bad i missed the ganja:P
Great to have you at the event. Should do this more often lah. Aiyoo.. I look like I was trying to swallow the OM burger whole man!
thenomadgourmand: Looking forward to more meetings with you. Come join us again!
J2Kfm: I like sloppy burgers as long as there’s a lot of tissue beside me coz I tend to get everything on my face! Yeah, I’m a messy eater. I hope you succeed in finding this place. If not, gimme a buzz.
Bangsar-bAbE: Wow…2 burgers! (Actually, I oso can, but I can’t stay as slim as you! hehe)
ling239: Yeah, simple and attractive, eh?
Rolan Stein: Everytime I write a post on a high end restaurant, I can imagine you tsk-tsk-ing away. 😉 But you’re right, there’s something about Malaysian street food that’s orgasmic, that’s highly satisfying, that you can’t find anywhere else in the world (not even in Singapore!). The list is a good start, but there’s loads more as you can imagine. Thanks for your vote of confidence in our local cuisine. If only we can get it across to the rest of the world that Malaysia is worth visiting for the food alone.
Jaded: Thanks for pointing out that error. And so cute that you can be blinded by the burger. hehe.
Selba: It’s a good start, but you have loads more places to visit after that. 🙂
lotsofcravings: I love roti john too. I ate loads of that when I was in Uni. 🙂
unkaleong: I need to know how to key in the GPS coordinates into my thingamajig too.
Alexandra: Next time, perhaps? 🙂 Lovely meeting you too!
fatboybakes: Cute pun. Creative and profound, as always, tangechi.
thule aka leo: I haven’t been to a few too. Take your time, bro….but don’t wait until your daughter grows up la….some of these places don’t have anyone to continue the biz.
cumidanciki: hello sexay cikay, yes, we missed you at the ganja place. Make sure you don’t turn us down in the future, baybeh.
Adly dahling: Yes, organise more events in the future! Oh, you were referring to the burger sessions, issit? That oso can. Well, weren’t you trying to swallow the burger whole? 😛 You’re such a cutie!
cik meena,
can come up with a driving route so that pple can systematically go from one place to the other eating stall by stall in 1 day?
hehe… if 1 day not possible because stomach not big enough, make it a two day thingy. 🙂
encik keropok,
How demanding. 😛 I’m still trying to figure out my GPS unit la. But if you are seriously coming to KL, I will seriously work out a 2 day food crawl for you. 😀
I don’t really “tsk tsk away” when I read your reviews of high-end restaurants, LL! My main gripe is the pretentiousness and fashion-consciousness that often goes with yuppie foodie types and their expensive posey haunts – I don’t see you as pretentious (unlike my mate over at abstractgourmet!).
I guess, though, I’m not much interested in expensive international cuisine in Malaysia. We can get great Italian, Japanese etc here, and the prices are fairly comparable once you get to the high end. And being stuck on authenticity, I am most interested in provincial food in the countries of origin – not high-end simulations in other countries.
That said, if you read my blog on molecular gastronomy, you’ll have noted that I wasn’t negative about Heston, Ferran etc and contended that science does, indeed, have a legitimate role in the kitchen (it always has!). I hasten to add I would never shell out the ridiculous prices places like El Bulli charge, when for the same bucks I could sample terrif provincial food at multiple people’s restaurants around Spain! Gimme value, gimme provincial… every time!
Provincial is the key word to my food philosophy. However, if I was living in Malaysia as you do, perhaps I would also explore international options in quest of variety from time to time, so far be it from me to judge you for doing just that. (I’m really into making pizza at home at the moment, and my own home cooking covers a wide range of cuisines…and I love a burger and other fast food every so often…my hardline declarations are mostly in reference to restaurants).
The thing is, the three wonderful cuisines of Malaysia and all their provincial and cultural variants are compellingly interesting for someone like me, and I know I could stay in Malaysia for a couple of years and still have masses to learn about the gorgeous food (and to sample!). That’s why your blogs on provincial Malaysian fare are so compelling for me. But jeez, I am not typical of your readership, so who cares what I think? I’m happy just to keep dropping in and absorbing info about Malaysian food whenever you dish it up!
Cheers!
do you expect me to carry my one month old ++ daughter to the roadside stalls or those restaurants cramped with people??? Hahahaha… I don’t mind actually, but then my wife will definitely kill me if I dare to stuff my daughter 🙂
But I will take some time to see which one actually worth going… with air-cond (my wife set high priority on this) and less cramp!
Ahhhh now the burger is explained – look at all those happy faces!
I can’t remember when was the last time I had such good looking burger. Looks like a fun night!
Rolan Stein: Ah, so are you generalising that snobs only eat at high-end restaurants, and therefore everyone who eats at a high-end restaurant is a snob? Hahaha. I am just teasing you, of course. I know exactly what you mean.
For a visitor to Malaysia, there are more than enough local choices; no need for you to poison your list with foreign food, although as you correctly pointed out, I need variety, and therefore I choose to patronize these restaurants. You have already acquainted yourself once with our local cuisine, and fallen in love with it, and I hope that love affair will continue for you as it has for many of us. We LOVE our food, and have said many times that nothing will compel us to leave for greener pastures because this attachment is too strong.
On a final note, dear Rolan Stein, I would pay those astronomical prices for El Bulli. Why wouldn’t I, to experience such brilliance?
thule aka leo: Yeah, I can imagine your wife whacking you for introducing the local dai chow man to your daughter so early! (give her a year or two, then introduce him to her)
msiagirl: Glad the confusion’s been cleared. But really, we do have big appetites!
Precious Pea: Good looking? You bet, sista! I doubt if I would be able to find the place again so easily, but we can try, if you like. 🙂 We really do need to do a food crawl with you before you leave, girl!
If only that Green Apple Burger was open after that Om Burger we had. Meena, let’s do another burger crawl soon. I’m hungry for some Ramly’s.
Let’s do this crawl.
All I remember was a certain very famous flogger being afraid of entering the 7-Eleven cos of the Night of the Attack of the Flying Locusts!!! 😛
P.S. The Bald Eagle and you were so sweet. SMS-ing each other all nite. Like newly-weds. 🙂
LL,
Re: “On a final note, dear Rolan Stein, I would pay those astronomical prices for El Bulli. Why wouldn’t I, to experience such brilliance?”
Hmm – how do you know it’s brilliant? Just because a gaggle of high end critics writing in elitist Euro foodie mags decrees it so? I am interested in Aidra’s techniques, and I wouldn’t dismiss the guy on the basis many do – ie: that molecular gastonomy is faddish and pretentious – and yes, I think there is a place for high art in food (performance art might be closer to the mark in the case of El Bulli).
However, I seriously doubt that El Bulli provides food better in FLAVOUR than any number of local restaurants in that area of Spain at 1/10th the price. Different, of course, but better? IMO, NO food ANYWHERE justifies those silly prices. In fact, I think paying astronomical prices for food is obscene – an indulgence of the monied class that, frankly, fills me with contempt. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.
Oi – just remembered your ‘About This Blog’ statement: “Food, for me, is a means to an end and not an end in itself.” Isn’t paying a small fortune to sup a single time at El Bulli getting away from this position a little? 🙂
PS: Not having a go at you – just pointing out an apparent contradiction.
i wanna piece of that burger too! looks sinfully delicious and sloppy! hehehe..though i wont be squatting la, i’ll just eat standing :p
I think it’s strategic to open the burger stall in-front of 7-11, where else can you get customer to patron late at nights? Also, customer can buy drink from 7-11 and eat burger outside. Then there’s a bit of free light from 7-11 leh. :p
Simon Seow: I like the free light point. 🙂 And I suppose they take care of each other, eh?
Riz Ainuddin aka Burger Dude: Yah man, that would have been the icing on the cake. Let’s pick a weekend to do this. I’m usually easy. You’re the difficult to book fler, cis bedebah.
LFB: I hate creepy crawlies. You’ll hate them too when you find them down your blouse in between your cleavage…ewwww. (except that you don’t wear a blouse or have a cleavage, but just imagine larr….)
Rolan Stein: The first step in discovering food is word of mouth, just like the storytellers of ancient days. After listening to their stories of exploration and discovery, one embarks on one’s own personal journey. I think there are enough documentaries and books about Mr Adria that have piqued my interest. And if I have an opportunity to try it, why not? Isn’t it similar to acquiring expensive original artwork as opposed to reproductions (they both look alike anyway, so shouldn’t one derive the same pleasure?) or buying expensive cars as opposed to a dinky little jalopy (they both get you from point A to point B, don’t they?). It boils down to that feeling of euphoria in trying, tasting, feeling something that leaves you in wonderment. I don’t dispute your point on FLAVOUR, naturally, but like the painting and the BMW, there is that extra X factor which many would be willing to pay for. Yes, I suppose we shall have to agree to disagree on this point. 🙂
Mr Rolan Stein, are you using my words against me? 🙂 Ah, the experience in El Bulli (if I ever have the pleasure…so far, I have been unfortunate in procuring a booking) will still be a means to an end for I shall be dining there with my beloved husband, gazing into his eyes, as he whispers sweet nothings into my ear and feeds me culinary foam (brings new meaning to the term: he’s full of hot air). What happens after that is for you to imagine…. 😉
sc: I don’t enjoy squatting either, for the simple reason that my legs creak when I stand up again, so yeah, I’d join you in eating while standing up. Wanna join us next time?
The look on hairy’s face, the arched eyebrow… priceless!! 😀
Do you know where we can download (free) map of Msia for my gps ah?
I gotta go do some power yoga-aerobic exercises now. No thanks to your brilliant-as-usual shots mayo-ketchup doused eggy burger..
it was almost like a lawatan sambil belajar. first came the theory (the party), then the practical (chomping down the sloppy burger). only more fun, this.
yeah, i definitely agree that FriedChillies’ enthusiasm is infectious. just give them a minute and be amazed by their knowledge on Malaysian food. dahsyat yo!
gfad: Yeah, our Hairy is always full of expression. Free map of Malaysia for GPS? Aiyoh, tangechi, I don’t even know how to read my GPS, let alone download anything. Woi, you’re gong to exercise after seeing my pictures? Crazy ar?
HairyBerry: Yup, it was definitely good fun. Glad you enjoyed yourself, and thanks for being the driver on the expedition. These guys are wonderful and I adore them!
LL,
I was all ready to start throwing around phrases like bourgeois and decadent, and I think you’ve been a little wriggly and stretched the bounds of logic beyond reasonable limits in your response re food being a means to an end – but your humour is disarming…not so many manage to contain the savage beast (mine, not yours!) as you have done here! That foam sentence had me laughing aloud.
Still, you’re a decadent lil’ yuppie, really, when it comes down to it – aren’t ya now? And lovin’ every second of it, no doubt! So I’ll saunter off diplomatically at this point and take my socialist values with me!
Cheers! 🙂
PS: Would you write up a 4 day KL street food tour for me when I know my travelling dates? Wouldja? Wouldja? We still share more in common than not…
Watodo… all it takes is a look, and them fat cells go crazy. Where got like cumiNciki… so slim and beeeeoooootifuuu despite being a food reviewer.
Awww Rolan, I thought you’d never ask. 😛
gfad: Yeah, wait till she grows old and all the wrinkles become apparent. 😛 😛 There are blessings in puppy fat that never went away. 😀
LL,
You know how shy I am… 🙂
Love the ‘ganja in the burger’ quip!! How come you always get invited to these fun events??!!! No fair!! Hey.. when is our dinner date???
Rolan Stein: Shy? ROFL!!!! 😀
Dharm: Are you sure it was a quip? As for the invitations, well, I guess I’m lucky enough to know the organiser. You should come out with us one day, Dharm. 🙂
Hi there! We would like to invite you to join our Mother’s Day Contest 😉 Do drop by.
holy cow…That burger freaking beats any american burger’s ass.
woooot~ pretty awards!! =D
Kudos to FriedChillies 🙂
foodpromotions: ok, thanks.
Sophia: Haha…it sure does!
andrew: yeah man.
jason: Yup, they did a great job.
What gives on the reference to fat ah? Fatty crab la, Aunty gemok la. Do you think if I named my baking business “Plump and Buttery”, I’d be a hit? 😀
gfad, you forgot FATboybakes.
looks u guys had fun at the award ceremony. Yeah they should come up with some kind of map, pointing the shortest distance to cover all the places. haha
ladyironchef: Haha…maybe someone will be kind enough to work out a map for us, eh? (cue friedchillies!)
pbttttthhhhhhh….macam itu pun kena dragged in… here i was eating popcorn and minding my own bizness…
We need photos of LL as the presenter!!!!
Can’t eat this yet 😉